Burgaw, Southport, Wilmington offer scenery for 'Under the Dome'

Sunday

Jun 22, 2014 at 5:35 PM

Chester's Mill is made up of locations from three prominent towns in the region.

By Hunter IngramHunter.Ingram@StarNewsOnline.com

Chester's Mill, the small town trapped at the center of CBS' locally shot summer series "Under the Dome," may seem like its the perfect Anywhere-USA town with its quaint diners and everyone-knows-your-name community. But in reality, Chester's Mill is made up of locations from three prominent towns in the region.For season one, cast and crew made frequent trips to Burgaw and Southport from Wilmington to film scenes for the series. And with season two production in full swing, the trend continues.In Burgaw, which largely stands in for downtown Chester's Mill, crews film at everything from storefronts to the Pender County Courthouse, where the sign can, on occasion, read "Chester's Mill Town Hall."In early March, those passing through town were greeted with the unusual sight of gallows set up outside the courthouse. The eye-catching set piece was used for the season one finale cliffhanger that found Barbie (Mike Vogel), the show's scruffy hero, on the wrong end of a noose. Burgaw Town Manager Chad McEwen said this season the show has, for the most part, stuck with filming at locations it used in season one, most of which are situated in the immediate area around the courthouse, including Fremont and Wright streets.Mike Raad, a documentary filmmaker who lives in Burgaw, said the four-block radius that surrounds the courthouse is a favorite of local productions. In a new short film he directed called "Hometown Hollywood," screening at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Pender County Library, Raab traced 30 productions that have filmed in Burgaw, including "Dome," and found that all of them have used those four blocks because it offers the perfect canvas on which to film."That area is convertible. Every storefront can be easily changed or modified," Raab said. "Every one of the eight or nine storefronts have stood in for something else several times over the years."In Southport, the production also benefits from the small town aesthetic. Similar to last year, Cindy Brochure, tourism and economic development director for Southport, said cast and crew visited Trinity United Methodist Church twice this spring for scenes that will be featured in the first two episodes of the new season. On one occasion, crews assembled an action sequence that involved a prop steeple crashing down as three cast members fled the scene.Having film crews in town continues to be a pleasant experience for Southport, according to Brochure. "We hardly ever notice they are even here," she said.But visits to Burgaw and Southport by the production are down from last year. McEwen said that crews have only been to Burgaw to shoot four days and haven't been back for almost a month. In Southport, Brochure said crews have traveled to town only three times, mostly in March.Last Monday, the show returned to film scenes at the waterfront home of the show's Big Jim Rennie (Dean Norris), which will appear in episode 10.Brochure isn't worried about any production droughts, however, especially with more than a month of filming still left to complete."We went through a whole month last year when they didn't film at all. But then right at the end, they came all at once. So we aren't too concerned," she said.In fact, Brochure said that simply being a stop along "Dome's" production route has benefitted the popular tourist town. After seeing a tourism boost last summer when the series began airing its first season, Southport is already seeing similar effects this year."It is safe to say that tourism (related to the show) this summer has already tripled from last year," Brochure said. "There is quite the following."What's Burgaw and Southport's loss this year, appears to be a gain for the city of Wilmington, which has received the bulk of filming.In addition to maintaining two permanent stages on the EUE/Screen Gems Studios lot – where interior sets for the Sweetbriar Rose Cafe, a local school, the police station and several homes are housed – the production has bounced around town for frequent on-location shoots. Early Friday, crews returned to New Hanover High School, a new location incorporated into the story this season, to film several scenes that involved frosting the windows of the school. Although equipment and effects had been assembled, filming was delayed because natural lighting against the white frost effects made filming impossible. In recent weeks, "Dome" crews have also set up cameras at Greenfield Lake Park, Corning Inc., National Gypsum and Cape Fear Community College, as well as several private residences in the downtown area.Regardless of where the production travels in the region, Raab and Brochure both agree that any filming is good business for Southeastern North Carolina.